A very warm welcome to all
Psalm 91: “Keep me as the apple of your eye.”
Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Isaiah 53: 4-12; Hebrews 5: 1-10
Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45
In our Gospel today
In today’s Gospel from Mark, we find the disciples James and John asking Jesus for a special favour: to sit on his right and left hand in glory. For most of us reading this, it is easy to feel scornful of the two, who seem to have understood very little of what Jesus was teaching them in his words and actions. We may also feel that, in telling them about the suffering they were expecting later in life, Jesus was properly putting them in their place. As all of today’s readings tell us, God’s favour is often found in suffering, as it was in the case of Jesus himself.
And yet, if we examine our own lives, many of us will find that we, too, have often wanted to gain influence or recognition – perhaps sometimes even as blatantly as the sons of Zebedee. We do well to remind ourselves of what Jesus said: that we must serve others if we want to gain God’s favour.
But perhaps the more important lesson still is that we find salvation not through our intelligence, our talents, our personality – and much less still our ambition, arrogance or pride – but through God’s grace and the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. We find salvation, as Psalm 91 reminds us, when we make the Lord our refuge. It is then that the angels will bear us in their hands.
All Saints
Please note the next date for All Saints children’s Sunday Club for those at Primary School is Sunday October 20th from 3:30pm to 5:00pm at St James, Holburn Street, AB10 6BS. Bible stories, games, craft, songs, food and fun. A joint initiative with St James and St John’s.
Autumn Fair
A note for your diary, St John’s on Crown Terrace, will be hosting an Autumn Fair on Saturday 26th October between 10:00am and 12:30pm. There will be home bakes, bric a brac, bottles, crafts, raffles and more. All welcome!
Thursday @ 7
Thursday @ 7 will be restarting on 31st October for a five-week run through to 28th Nov. We meet in the church Crypt for Bible study, prayer and fellowship. We try to finish our study and prayer to an hour. Stay longer for a cuppa and fellowship. All welcome – bring a friend.
Church Grounds Tree Works
Over the last two weeks you may have noticed that we’ve had some tree works carried out in the east end garden area. Some of the trees there were pruned to take branches away from the church building and from the neighbour’s house. The ivy was removed from several tree trunks. We are also planning to prune and reshape the rowans in the Peace Garden in the near future. The east end border area will also be cleared at that time.
Photograph Competition 2024 Winners!
It’s time to announce the winners of the Photograph Competition for this year:
In first place entry number 15 “Aberdeen Beach” by Kevin McKinnon
In second place entry number 8 “Cults sunset” by Iain House
In third place entry number 29 “Sardinia – 2” by Kristy McKinnon
Entries number 10 “Park Bridge” by Iain House and 16 “Lochside, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen” by Kevin McKinnon were highly commended.
Our judge this year, Revd Canon Dr Jenny Holden said, “I really enjoyed being taken around the seasons, Aberdeen, the North East and the world near and far while judging this year’s photo competition. Thank you to all the entrants for being prepared to share their photos (and I often wondered what had led to them being taken…).” All entries can be seen here: https://stmaryscardenplace.org.uk/photograph-competition-2024/
Services and events commencing this Sunday and for the coming week
Sunday 20th October 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Dr Canon Jenny Holden
Sunday 20th October 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Kate Gibson
Wednesday 23rd October 10am Holy Communion: Revd Kate Gibson
Friday 25th October Compline 6pm: Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 27th October 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Dr Canon Jenny Holden
Sunday 27th October 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Dr Canon Jenny Holden
Next Sunday’s readings: Jeremiah 31: 7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 7: 23-28
Gospel: Mark 10: 46-52
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
For any pastoral matters please contact our Assistant Priest Revd Jason Hobbs on 07446 113014 or jhobbs10@gmail.com